


No pads, No Helmets, Just Balls

by Count99



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bottom Harry, Bottom Louis, M/M, Romance, Rugby, They switch roles sometimes, Top Harry, Top Louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-24 04:53:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2568884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Count99/pseuds/Count99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is starting his second year at uni and is excited for another year on the rugby team. Until an unexpected, familiar looking first year shows up and complicates things, in the best way possible. </p><p>University AU in which Louis is dedicated to rugby and the lifestyle that comes with it, Harry is surprisingly good at rugby as well despite how gangly he is. Harry is also good at making Louis be honest with himself. </p><p>(The other boys are there as well)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction and I claim none of it as truth. Solely for entertainment purposes. 
> 
>  
> 
> I made up the university lol
> 
>  
> 
> Title is taken from a popular rugby pun I found on the internet
> 
>  
> 
> Rugby is a complicated sport. It has weird rules and crazy words for everything. I will try to explain things as they come up in chapters. Basically for this chapter, you just need to know that every position has a weird name. The positions are split into two types: backs (or the back line) and forwards. Forwards are usually bigger and do most of the tackling and other feats of strength. Backs are faster, smaller (typically), more agile, and do most of the ball handling, passing, and scoring of tries (tries=touchdowns/goals). 
> 
> If you want a more in depth description of all things rugby, you can go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union

Ball: check

Water: check

Mouthguard: check

Louis Tomlinson promised himself he wouldn’t get nervous but to no avail. He checked the contents of his bag four times to make sure he had everything he would need for practice.

Boots: check

Medical tape: check

Not just any practice though—the first practice of the season. Louis had played well in the spring season and had conditioned enough over the summer that he had a real shot at starting this fall. He looked at himself in the mirror, thinking about how he was born to play rugby. His short stature made some people disbelieve his skills because it’s such a violent sport, but Louis stood firm in his stance that it wasn’t about the size of the fight in the dog that mattered, but the fight in the dog. And Louis sure had a lot of fight in him.

Louis stared down at his kit bag, admiring his team’s crest on it. He was so proud to be a member of the Manchester Erdite College Rugby Football Club, that name meant so much to him. His first year on the team was simply amazing. He got on with the other lads so well that he totally didn’t mind that pretty much his entire social life revolved around rugby. Well, except for his flatmate Zayn Malik who was more a part of the artsy scene. Zayn and Louis had been randomly assigned as roommates last year. After seeing how surprisingly well they got along, they then decided to live together again for their second year at uni.

After realizing that checking his bag one more time wouldn’t calm his excitement, Louis decided to head over to practice. One of the reasons Louis was so anxious is that the new crop of first years would be coming to try out for the team. There were plenty of rumours of promising talent among them, but Louis refused to let any of them take his place on the pitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When Louis had arrived at the practice pitch, before he was even able to set his bag down, he was greeted by an excited chorus of “Tommo!”s,  “How was your summer?”s , and “Good to see ya, mate”s.  Louis responded with the same level of enthusiasm. There was no point in hiding how happy he was to see his teammates considering how close they all were.

Louis was most excited to see his best mate on the team, Liam Payne. He and Liam hadn’t gotten off on the right foot, per se, during the first few weeks last year. Louis thought Liam was too serious and Liam thought Louis was not serious enough. But during the rookie initiation, Louis saw Liam let loose in some of the challenges and Liam saw Louis take charge in planning how to execute the challenges. After that, the ice melted away and they’d been inseparable ever since.

“Well if it isn’t Louis Tomlinson” Liam said as Louis made his way to take a seat on the bench next to Liam. Louis was pretty sure that next to the dictionary entry for ‘rugby player’ would be a picture of Liam. He was built like a true athlete, complete with a six-pack and guns that made you wonder if he had a license for those things.

“Is that you, Big Payno?” Louis joked.

“In the flesh.” Liam stood up to give Louis a warm hug. “Missed ya, mate.”

Yeah, Louis felt good being back. “Missed you too. I didn’t have anyone to mess with this summer. Nobody at home is as easy a target as you are.”

“How do you think I felt? I was so bored ‘cause I had nobody to keep in line.” They both chuckled, not even because the jokes were funny but because they were just happy to be in each other’s presence again.

After a few minutes of everyone catching up, the team started throwing a few balls around and warming up before the freshers showed up. The coach, Andy Graves, told returning players to come an hour earlier than the rookies so they could see how everyone was looking before they turned their attention towards the fresh meat.

 Louis and Liam were both on their games today. Neither of them dropped the ball once and they were always where they needed to be in the drills. Coach Graves only wanted to do passing and ball handling drills for now. He didn’t want to start tackling, rucking, or scrumming, until the rookies were here. He had to go over technique with the veterans anyway, so might as well to do it only once. Louis didn’t mind though. The more focus on passing and running lines there was the better. Louis avoided tackling drills as much as possible. It’s not that he didn’t like tackling; he actually loved it. He just didn’t like how much people liked to tackle him since he looked easy to tackle due to his size.

Louis tried not to smile as he saw Coach Graves and the captain, Tim, pointing at him and whispering. They looked pleased.

He was removed from his state of bliss when he saw the freshers trickle in. They looked athletic. Louis was certain that the players from his year were not as intimidating as this group of strapping young lads.

Another one showed up but he didn’t seem to fit in with the standard set by the rest of the players his year. He was tall and lanky and tripped over his own feet as he was walking over to the bench and oh shit it was Harry Styles. In the past two years since Louis had seen hum, he had become a bit taller, lost his baby fat, grown his hair longer, found some cheekbones and a jawline beneath that youthful face that Louis remembered, but it was definitely him.

_Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Fucking Shit Shit Shit Fuck Shit Shit_

Louis was so distracted that he didn’t notice he was supposed to run a line with Pete, Teddy, and Jack. “Tomlinson! Get your head out of your arse!” A shout from Coach Graves awoke him from his enraged trance.

“Sorry! Sorry! Can we run it again? I was distracted thinking about plays.” Louis knew his lie wouldn’t fly but he thought it was worth a try.

Coach Graves’ exclamation or his own dumb excuse must have alerted Harry of his presence because he was soon staring at Louis and waving with his big dumb hand. Of course Louis ignored him and the wave.

_Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit and Shit some more_

Louis dropped the ball when Pete tried to pop it to him, obviously making Coach Graves angry. “Alright, with that amazing demonstration of skill by Tomlinson,” _Oh how Louis missed Coach Graves’ sarcasm_ “let’s get the rookies into the mix. Line up across from each other. Vets to my right and rookies to my left.” There were few enough rookies that all of them would be making the team… _Shit_

Louis clung to Liam’s side, trying to hide. He could feel Harry’s eyes on him. The same round, green eyes he spent the past two years trying to push out of his memory.  But of course here they were again because, after all, Karma is a bitch.

“Starting with vets, go down the line saying first name, last name, class year, and primary position.” Coach Graves demanded. To be fair, rugby coaches had to be tough; it’s part of the sport. And Coach Graves wasn’t the meanest Louis had seen in his experience, he could’ve been much worse.

Beginning with Tim, the captain, all the vets introduced themselves. Louis didn’t notice when it was his turn so he received a nice elbow to the ribs from Liam. “Oh. Louis Tomlinson. Second year. Winger.” The last few vets after him gave their intros and then it was time for the rookies.

Unsurprisingly, all the big guys were forwards—two props, two locks, and one flanker. There were a few back line guys—two full backs, one inside centre, one scrumhalf, and one particularly athletic looking winger that Louis decided was his biggest competition.

And then there was Harry. “Hello, I’m Harry Styles.” _Jesus, his voice got so low. He still speaks so slowly, probably even more so now. It’s like velvet. No, no it’s not like velvet. His voice being like velvet would be a good thing. It’s like mud. Yeah, mud._ “I am a first year student and I play 8-man mostly.” _8-man??_ Louis mentally scoffed because even most of the backs were more muscular than Harry. _How is a lanky thing like that supposed to take down the huge guys on other teams? At least if he’s a forward we won’t be practising together much._

“Alright then, now that’s settled, let’s get down to some ball handling. Give me four lines.” Coach Graves instructed.

Louis avoided Harry’s attempts to get his attention at all costs. He stayed as far away from him as possible until Harry finally stopped trying to get close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After practice though, when everybody else packed up their stuff and headed to the showers, Louis stayed after to have a word with the Coach to apologize for being distracted during a few drills and ask for tips. If it was also another way of avoiding Harry Styles, then that was just convenient. He didn’t expect Harry to wait for him though.

“Hi, Louis. I’m not sure if you don’t remember me or if you’re just avoiding me, but in case it’s the former, I’m Harry.” Louis thought if he just continued walking, Harry would stop talking but he kept on blabbering. “I’m a friend of your cousin Alex. We met a few summers back while you were visiting him in Cheshire.”

“Yes, I remember you.” Louis replied, coldly, without making eye contact.

“Oh, good! So does that mean you remember--”

“Yes, I do remember.” Louis looked around to make sure nobody was there to hear their conversation. He finally deigned to look Harry in the eye. “But you can’t tell anybody that we hooked up, okay? I’m not gay. That was just a phase-- a short-lived phase. I am straight and I would appreciate it if nobody on the team knew about my past experimentation.”

Harry looked a bit taken aback by Louis’ words. “Oh... Okay yeah that’s fine I get that. If you say you’re not gay then you’re not gay I guess. I won’t tell anyone, promise.” He paused for a brief moment and Louis was about to walk, but then Harry continued, “It doesn’t need to be awkward between us though, does it? We are on a team together now and, you know, team chemistry is important. I think you’re cool—well, I remember you being really cool when we last met, and I assume you’re still cool. Basically I just think we should be friends or at least that you don’t ignore me.” Harry was rambling again with his velvety—no, muddy-- voice. He could tell Louis wanted him to get to the point, so he rushed out his final thoughts “‘Cause like I’m not gonna tell anyone so you don’t have to worry about it. And I won’t like make a move on you if you think that’s what I’m gonna do. If you say you’re not gay and that you don’t want anything like that with me then I respect that.”

“Okay. That works for me. As long as you do just that, I won’t like hate you or avoid you. And, I won’t tell them you’re gay. Your secret is safe with me.” Louis put on a genuine-looking smile to prove there were no hard feelings.

“It’s not a secret really. I’m out and proud. I was gonna tell the team myself as soon as there was an appropriate moment. But, I don’t mind if you tell them instead.” Harry genuinely smiled to show there really were no hard feelings. But all Louis saw were the dimples. Despite the rest of his face maturing, the dimples were still there—out and proud.

“Nah I’ll let you tell them. It’s your news to share, not mine.”

“Thanks, Louis.” Dimples again.

Louis smiled back.

They headed into the locker room to find that the whole team had already left. Both of them started peeling their sweaty clothes off. Louis tries very hard to keep his eyes from wandering. He really did, he swears. But, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Harry Styles 2.0 shirtless and suddenly lost control of his eyes and not so subtly stared. _Okay maybe he is muscular enough to be a forward. When did he get abs? Did he spend every hour of every day since I last saw him in the gym? Shit_

Louis was so lost in the view that he didn’t notice a situation arising in his crotchular region. But Harry did and tried to hide a smirk.

_Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a lot of internal conflict for Louis. And some Flirty Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! It took me longer to update than I thought. Next chapter will be sooner, I promise.

Every moment after seeing Harry, Louis was an anxious mess. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop thinking about him and everything he had said. He replayed their conversation in his head over and over again, trying to find some alternate meaning that would mean Harry was a dickhead instead of the wonderful person he still seemed to be.

He was still in shock; never in a million years did he think he would see him again. He purposefully cut off his ties with Harry and didn’t tell anybody about what happened let alone think about it. All the memories he had tried to repress were coming back at him full force.

Zayn noticed that Louis was acting a bit off so he asked, “Ay Lou, is something wrong? You seem a little on edge.”

“No, nothing really…It’s—It’s just that there are new freshers on the team and it makes things complicated.” Louis responded, trying to avoid being questioned further.

“Yeah? Is it not fun anymore?” Zayn knew Louis didn’t like to talk about his feelings, but it was always worth a try anyways.

“No no no, it’s still fun. I’m just nervous about my position on the team.” Technically, Louis wasn’t lying, he was nervous about assuring his starting spot. That just wasn’t the thing that was putting him so on edge.

“I’m sure you’ll still get lots of playing time. You’ve got more experience than them, right?”

Louis made an undistinguishable noise that was intended to be an acknowledgement that Zayn was right as always. Figuring that Louis didn’t want to talk about it anymore, Zayn dropped the subject and they turned their attention back to the show they were watching.

It was one of Louis’ favorite shows but he couldn’t even get himself to pay attention because his mind was racing with memories of Harry. He had tried so hard to forget about it but now all of his efforts have gone to shit. Nobody but him and Harry knew what happened so there wasn’t anybody to remind him about it all until now.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_July, 2012_

_After Louis’ parents announced their divorce, his aunt Betsy invited—more like demanded—that he and his four younger sisters come stay with her until everything was settled. Betsy was one of Louis’ favorite relatives and she had a son, Alex, who was close to Louis’ age. So, spending some time with them in Holmes Chapel didn’t sound like the worst idea ever._

_Anything was better than being at home at that point. His mom and dad were fighting constantly which was hard enough for Louis without the added pressure of taking care of his sisters. He tried to stop their tears as much as possible by telling them it would be alright, but sometimes he couldn’t even convince himself it was true. He felt like the world was falling to pieces and he was the only one who could find the scraps and put it all back together again._

_So, getting away from Doncaster a while sounded like just the thing Louis needed._

_Holmes Chapel wasn’t all that exciting until Louis met his cousin Alex’s friend Harry. From the first moment they met, they got on extremely well. Everything felt natural and comfortable between them. Harry made Louis feel like a proper comedian with the way he would hysterically laugh at anything Louis said. Harry just all around made Louis feel important. Louis came to rely on Harry’s friendship a lot to lift his spirits._

_As soon as Betsy found out about the budding friendship, she urged Louis to talk to Harry-- whose parents had divorced a while ago-- about his feelings regarding his parents’ split._

_After some resistance, Louis finally did as she wished and found that talking to Harry was actually really helpful. He was insightful when he shared his own story and attentive when listening to Louis’. Louis felt he could really open up to Harry and it didn’t even scare him how vulnerable he was._

_It wasn’t long until their chats turned to more than just about divorce. They talked about their passions and what they really wanted to do with the rest of their lives—not just what they tell their extended family to appease them, but what they really, really wanted for themselves. Harry even revealed that he didn’t know if he was completely straight. He told him that looking back on his past relationships with girls, he realized he was never really into them. He just thought he was supposed to be into them. Louis responded by kissing him, surprising himself as well as Harry._

_Louis still doesn’t know what came over him in that moment. Hearing Harry talk about how he preferred muscular chests instead of boobs made Louis want to run his hands all over Harry’s chest. Seeing how flustered and hot Harry got while talking about thick, manly thighs made Louis flustered and hot. He just needed to feel Harry in some way._

_It started out as just a quick, chaste kiss, but didn’t stay that way long. After a few seconds of uncertainty, they both dropped all inhibitions. Neither of them had realized how exactly hungry they were for each other until they had a taste. After that, there was no going back. They grew more and more insatiable the longer their lips were connected. The kiss had escalated too quickly for either of their thoughts to catch up. Harry had Louis pinned down on his bed, desperately taking everything Louis would give._

_Both boys were achingly hard. They sloppily moved their hips against each other in an effort to get some friction. They eventually developed some semblance of rhythm that had them moaning into each other’s mouths._

_Before they could do anything more, Harry’s mum came home, so they had to frantically pretend they were just ‘chilling’ and definitely not making out. This proved to be a task made immeasurably more difficult with the rampant boners they were both sporting._

_If Harry’s reaction to this whole thing was any indicator, then he definitely wasn’t completely straight._

_Louis had never been previously concerned with his own sexuality. He considered the amount he admired other guys to be a strictly heterosexual amount. But, with Harry, there was nothing strictly heterosexual about it. He convinced himself that Harry was anomaly with his dimples and curly hair and endearing charm. Just because he was attracted to Harry definitely did not mean he was attracted to all guys. And he could live with that._

_He allowed himself to believe that theory was true throughout the rest of the time they spent together. They continued to meet up in private and hungrily explore each other. What started out as just innocently kissing evolved into getting each other off in every way possible._

_Whenever Harry’s house was empty, he would send Louis a frantic text telling him to come over right at that instant. Louis always complied. Sometimes their urges for each other were so powerful that they had to find some solution when Harry’s house wasn’t empty. This resulted in a fair amount of hookups in the park, behind the church, in the stables near Harry’s house and many other filthy places. Harry and Louis probably held the record in having come in the most places in Holmes’ Chapel._

_As quickly and unexpectedly it had begun, it all ended. After about five weeks, Louis’ mum, Jay, called him and sisters back to Doncaster, saying that everything had all been sorted. It was time for the family to move forward._

_During his last night in Holmes Chapel, Louis had paid a visit to Harry to say his final goodbyes. His intentions really weren’t to go all the way with Harry, they weren’t—he swears. Both of them had had sex with girls before so it just made sense to fuck each other’s brains out before saying goodbye._

_They were both at ease with each other and the decision despite how nervous the idea of actually participating in gay sex made them. Apparently Harry had been planning to seduce Louis for a while so he had done his research and was fully prepared._

_Harry guided Louis through the process of opening him up. He coated Louis’ fingers in lube and brought them down to his entrance. Harry was sure to give lots of direction because if Louis was gonna fuck him, he was gonna do it right. He grabbed Louis’ wrist and pretty much fucked himself using Louis’ fingers. Louis thought it was just about the hottest thing ever, seeing Harry writhe in pleasure and desire. Harry’s facial expressions looked euphoric, especially when he instructed Louis to curl his fingers up to hit his prostate. Harry released a guttural moan that made Louis’ dick twitch._

_The only thing better than fingering Harry was fucking him. It was the most intense pleasure he had ever felt and he didn’t last long as a result. Slowly sinking inside Harry was like perfection. He had never felt anything like it. After just a few minutes of thrusting in and out of Harry’s tight heat, he was close. He tried holding back for as long as he could but with the filthy noises Harry was making, it was near impossible._

_Harry was meeting his thrusts because he wanted—needed Louis’ cock so badly. Louis had no idea how this was Harry’s first time based on how well he was taking it. He had winced a little at the beginning, but it was obvious that the intense pleasure soon overtook the pain. Harry grabbed Louis’ arse cheeks and starting trying to push his thrusts even deeper._

_Harry was apparently just as horny as Louis because he came so very quickly, shouting obscenities about Louis and his amazing cock (absolutely none of it went to Louis’ head)._

_When he felt Harry tighten up around him and saw how he completely lost himself in his orgasm, Louis came soon after. It was like fireworks throughout his entire body, like every vein in his body had been filled with pop rocks and he felt more alive than ever._

_They collapsed into a sticky breathless mess thereafter. It was a bit awkward, but it was perfect. Harry was smiling like no tomorrow and his dimples were more prominent than ever. Louis leaned down to kiss each dimple and then his lips. They lay tangled in Harry’s bed, lovingly kissing for a while._

_Harry made some cheesy comment about losing his ‘gay-ginity’ that made Louis’ whole body laugh. It was so dumb, but so Harry. Louis wished he could forget that even more than the whole actual fucking Harry thing._

_Leaving Harry’s bedroom that night was difficult to say the least. It felt like losing something, but Louis shook that feeling as soon as it crept up._

_Louis promised Harry he would be in touch, but that plan fell to ruins quickly. On the train home, Louis convinced himself that the only reason he had been attracted to Harry was because of how emotionally dependent he had been on him. The divorce had rendered him weak but now that he was heading back to Doncaster, he had to be strong again. He had to shake all the feelings of vulnerability that he had developed and leave it all behind him in Cheshire._

_Louis confused his thankfulness for sexual feelings, that’s all. He was coping with the tragic loss of his parents’ marriage. It was the only possible explanation. If the circumstances had been different, nothing would have happened. Louis was still strictly heterosexual. Nobody had to know about this little blip on the radar._

_There was no reason whatsoever to be in touch._

_After all, it’s not like he ever thought they would run into each other again._

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Louis had to get out of his own head. All the memories of the sights and sounds were bombarding him. It was all too much.

He would never forget the sight of Harry on his knees before him. The image of those green eyes staring up at him as his length disappeared into that gloriously red mouth was completely sinful. The way he looked so happy to have Louis’ cock between his lips. Louis had never come harder than with Harry-- _No, not true, there have been plenty of other times. And now he thinks he can just come to my uni and join my rugby team and be all nice about everything with his friendship offer. Fuck Harry!_

“You sure you’re alright, mate?” Zayn turned off the TV, bringing Louis out of his invasive thoughts.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, your face looks like you want to start a fight with someone and you just said ‘fuck Harry.’” Zayn was determined to get Louis to talk, even if he had to drag it out of him.

“Did I?”

“Yeah, ya did.” Zayn gave him a look as if to say ‘I’m one of your best mates and I really think you should take me up on my offer of talking about your feelings’ but Louis promptly avoided the eye contact. “Let’s go out for a drink, yeah?” Zayn pressed.

“I’m not allowed to drink tonight, I have practice early tomorrow morning.” It wasn’t a lie, and Zayn knew that so he couldn’t call it bullshit.

“Okay then we can go for a walk. No alcohol necessary.”

“I have to rest my legs for practice.” Also, not technically a lie.

“Okay……Then we can just sit on the couch and chat about why your face looks like you’re experiencing the worst pain imaginable.” Louis made no sound of agreement nor disagreement, which Zayn took as permission to continue. “So who is this Harry?” When Louis didn’t answer the question, Zayn furthered “You know, the Harry from your exclamation ‘fuck Harry’?”

Louis knew he was acting like a toddler but he had never talked to anyone about Harry. It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to admit that you experimented sexually with a guy that is now on your rugby team AND he’s even hotter now AND you got a boner from looking at him shirtless. Zayn would probably get it out of him eventually, but until then, Louis would pout and fold his arms all he wanted.

“You’re not gonna make this easy are you? Is he one of the new freshers joining the team?” After a few beats Louis nodded which made Zayn fake gasp. “Ah! You _can_ hear me after all. I thought I was talking to meself. Why is he so bad then?”

Louis let out an overly dramatic sigh in frustration. “He’s not. That’s the problem. He’s way too nice.” Louis muttered, almost inaudibly.

“Then why are you so angry at him?” Zayn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Because”

“Because why?”

Louis said nothing.

“Lou?” Zayn pressed.

“Oh wow, I didn’t realize how much I stink until now. I should spare your sense of smell and go take a shower.”

Zayn turned to face him, “Ay, where are you going?”

Without looking back, Louis responded, “’M taking a shower.”

“You’re gonna have to talk about it eventually.”

“That’s what you think.” Louis slammed the door to emphasize his point. He rolled his eyes even though nobody could see him, just for maturity’s sake. So, he had progressed from stubborn toddler to angsty teenager. At least it was some form of progress, right?

Louis turned on the shower faucet and stripped his clothes off. _Shit._ He was hard because of Harry, again. _This needs to stop happening. It’s only because I haven’t gotten laid in a while. Honestly, anything could make me hard after this dry spell._

He stepped under the water and wrapped his hand around his length. He tried to imagine some sexy scenarios of attractive women, but his subconscious hates him so Harry popped up in each one. Louis fought it for a bit, but after a while he just wanted to come as soon as possible so he could forget this happened just as quickly.

Once he let himself fantasize about Harry being in the shower with him, Louis’ hand movements became faster. He imagined it was Harry’s big hand around his cock, trying to work every single bead of come out of him, hotly whispering obscenities into his ear. He pretended Harry was running his fingers up and down his spine before settling them on his arse. _Harry loves my arse so much._

It was more recollection than imagination, which was the worst part. Louis knew how it all felt in real life. He knew how Harry was so good at keeping a steady pace and exactly how his low grunts sounded.

It was working. Soon enough, Louis’ strokes became erratic and his breathing frantic. With a few hard final tugs, he was coming, trying to keep Harry’s name off his tongue.

_How am I supposed to look him in the eye at practice tomorrow? He’ll definitely know I wanked to him. He already knows I had a stiffy in the locker room today, so he probably assumes I’ve been thinking about him all night. And he’s gonna want to be friendly to me tomorrow too. I can’t be mean to him, can I? He could tell **everyone.** No, I will be nice to him. _

Louis’ inner monologue was truly a mess. He couldn’t sleep that night because his mind was racing tomorrow. He tossed and turned for hours on end just wishing all his thoughts to go away. He even resorted to begging his mind to shut off. But nothing worked; the more he tried to push everything away, the stronger and more repeatedly it hit him.

He finally settled on the theory that it was just the years of denial coming back full force. Once the novelty of having Harry back in his life wears off, so will the attraction. He shouldn’t act on this ephemeral attraction because he will regret it when Harry’s effect on him wears off. The locker room boner and furious shower wank were just the result of finally remembering his past orgasms with Harry. The orgasms with Harry that had meant nothing and were the result of his short period of instability.

After achieving some temporary peace of mind, Louis looked at the clock to see it was 3:54 AM and he had to be awake by 7:35 AM, 7:45 AM if he wanted to push it.

_Great. Absolutely great. I’m gonna play so well at practice tomorrow when I’m sleep deprived and unable to focus. This is exactly how this season is supposed to go. Coach Graves is gonna hand me that starting position after tomorrow._

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Louis lagged while walking to practice the next day. He could barely bother to lift his feet off the ground and chose to grumble instead of using words to respond to people.

Liam so lovingly commented, “Tommo, what happened? You look like a proper mess.”

“Gee, thanks, I try.” Louis retorted sarcastically.

“I mean, in comparison to how good you always look.” Louis rolled his eyes, prompting Liam to try to salvage himself of his stupid comment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It’s fine, I forgive you. I know I always look good.” Louis smirked.

They sat down on the bench on the side of the pitch. “Did you go out last night or something?”

“No, of course not, Coach would kill me if I had. I just couldn’t sleep. Had a lot on my mind.”

Liam made a sympathetic face, saying, “I’m sorry, mate. Can I ease your troubles at all?”

“This is neither the time nor the place for that.” Louis saw Harry approaching with a big smile on his face. _Great, just the person I want to see!_

“We can talk after practice then?” Liam asked, but Louis wasn’t paying much attention.

“Yeah sure.” Louis was too distracted by the fact that Harry was coming to sit down next to them. _Of course he would._

“Hi, Louis!” Harry greeted cheerfully.

“Hello, Harry.” Louis tried not to sound as frustrated as he was.

Harry then reached across Louis’ body to extend a hand to Liam. “Hi, I’m Harry. I don’t think we’ve formally met yet, so I might as well introduce myself.”

Liam accepted the handshake, smiled and added, “I’m Liam. I noticed you in practice yesterday; you’re pretty good.”

Unfortunately for Louis, the compliment made Harry smile so hard that his dimples surfaced and a subtle blush appeared on his cheeks. “Thanks, wow. I am very flattered you think that. So are you. Are you the starting outside center?”

“We’ll see. It’s still up in the air.” Liam replied, modestly. Everyone on the team knew Liam would be starting this season. He even started a few games last season, so it was definitely not up in the air. He bulked up over the summer and increased his long distance running stamina by a lot.

“Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you; and for you too, Louis. Although I’m sure neither of you need it.”

“Thanks, mate.” Louis responded.

“Did you two meet yesterday?” Liam asked, a little confused as to why Harry wasn’t intimidated by Louis. Liam knew Louis didn’t like that there were so many good new players and that he hadn’t been so welcoming to them as a group last practice.

Before Louis had a chance to say anything, Harry started to speak: “Sort of. We actually met—“ Louis shot Harry his best ‘shut up right now’ glare. “I mean, we met after practice yesterday. It’s a funny story actually. I thought he was someone I knew so I came up to him, thinking he was someone else.” Realizing how dumb he sounded, Harry stopped his story and bashfully smiled at the ground before continuing, “Maybe it’s not so much funny as it is embarrassing.” _Good boy. Maybe this isn’t going to be so bad after all._

Coach Graves blew his whistle and instructed everyone to take a few warm-up laps. As they got up off the bench, Harry clapped his hand on Louis’ shoulder and winked.

_Nope. Still gonna be bad. I mean, who even winks anymore._

Harry insisted on staying near Louis and Liam throughout all of practice. Liam, along with the rest of the team, found Harry very charming.

Louis tried his best not to show any distaste for Harry just because of how confused and frustrated he made him. Harry didn’t deserve it. Louis had to keep reminding himself that Harry hadn’t done anything wrong. _Don’t punish him for what’s going on in your own head. It’s not his fault. He wants to be friends. That’s all. Let him be friends with you. Don’t push him away for stupid reasons. C’mon Louis, don’t be a dickhead._

But Harry was making everything difficult for Louis. During stretches, Harry positioned himself right next to Louis. It seemed like every few seconds Harry’s shirt was riding up to reveal the defined V of his hips. Harry even leaned on Louis for balance when he was stretching his quads. His muscular, defined— _Nope, his thighs are none of those things._

Louis caught Harry staring at him more than a few times. Each time, Louis made eye contact hoping it would make Harry stop; but each time, Harry would just smile at him—sometimes he would wink. 

_Maybe this is how he acts with all of his friends. Except, he probably hasn’t made all of his other friends have mind-blowing orgasms before._

Despite all the distractions and forces of nature working against him, Louis managed to play pretty well in practice. Well, better than he had expected. For the most part, his body was on autopilot, which really is a testament to his skills as a rugby player.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After practice, Tim decided that a team dinner later that evening would be a good idea. Then, Liam had the even more brilliant idea of offering to pick Harry up and drive him to dinner in his car as he, Louis, Pete, and Teddy drove to said dinner.

By the time Liam had come to pick Louis up for dinner, Teddy was already sitting shotgun so Louis had to settle for the backseat. They picked up Pete and Harry at the same spot because they lived near each other and the two filed in. Louis was nervous he would end up sitting next to Harry, pressed up against his side. Luckily Pete ended up in the middle seat instead.

“Lou, could you and Pete switch? I can’t see through the rear window with him in the middle because he’s so bloody tall.” Liam asked. Louis knew he really shouldn’t be angry with Liam. _He has a point. Pete is a fucking giant. He doesn’t know the story of what happened with Harry so he’s not doing this on purpose to make life more difficult._  

But Louis still was angry with Liam. “Ay what kind of height discrimination is this? Just because my genetics prohibited me from being as tall as all you giants doesn’t mean you can tell me where I can and can’t sit.” Louis tried to play it off that he was kidding at least a little bit. You know, just so Harry wouldn’t think he was a dickhead. Harry laughed so it worked. Liam wasn’t as amused.

“That’s all very well and good but Lou, could you please move to the middle so I don’t crash the car?”

“Alright, alright. But I’m not happy about it.” Louis grumbled as he and Pete switched seats and he settled in next to Harry.

With every bump and curve of the road, Louis made sure to stay as still as possible and not to lean into Harry at all costs. It seemed like Harry was trying to achieve the opposite though. Whenever there was a slight turn, Harry leaned his entire bodyweight onto Louis. _It must be on purpose. There’s no way he has such little core strength not to keep himself upright. That’s a fact._ It became even more obvious that was not accident when he smirked during a particularly long lean. _What a little shit._

When they arrived at Tim’s flat for dinner, Louis couldn’t have rushed out of the car any more quickly. He was nearly climbing over Pete.

“Eager for dinner, eh Tommo?” Pete asked.

“Oh yeah, really excited for some pizza.” Louis didn’t even try to make his lie convincing. He was more focused on removing himself from Harry’s side.

Louis grabbed a slice of cheese pizza once he got upstairs and sat down on the couch beside Liam and Tim. The three of them had a nice chat about their upcoming school years.

Out of the corner of his eye, Louis saw Harry approaching. But he was stopped on his way towards Louis by one of the other rookies— _Joey, was it?_ Joey ( _maybe)_ motioned Harry towards the kitchen where all the rookies had congregated. Harry glanced over at Louis--trying to make it seem like he wasn’t paying attention—and then followed Joey _(probably)_ into the kitchen. Louis refused to acknowledge any feelings of jealousy and/or missing Harry.

When the whole team had arrived and everyone had been eating and talking for a while, Tim announced, “Lads, since it is the first team dinner of the season and we have some new rookies, we’re going to do some team bonding. So, we’re gonna play two truths and a lie. Everyone go around and say two true facts about yourself and one lie and we’ll all guess which one is the lie. Alright? Pete, you start.” Whenever the team did exercises like this, everything became a competition. _Classic rugby lads._ Louis loved it.

Pete followed this trend by reminding everyone of the fact that he made out with four girls in one night last year and that he once got in a bar fight. The facts continued like that as they went around the room, everyone trying to get the most laughs and be as ridiculous as they could.

When it was Harry’s turn, his three facts were: “I’ve sent nude photos of myself to someone. I have four nipples. And I can speak conversational German.”

Louis had seen Harr’s four nipples and had received nudes from Harry so he knew the last one was the lie. “You definitely do not speak conversational German” Louis shouted.

“I think the four nipples thing is a little bit more likely to be the lie than the German.” Teddy argued.

“Nah, I’m going with the nudes being the lie.” Joey _(definitely)_ countered, “He seems to innocent to send nudes.”

The entire team was shouting their input on the matter, most of them agreeing with Joey or Teddy over Louis.

“Boys!” The team quieted down to listen to Louis. “Firstly, he is not that innocent. Secondly, I know for a fact that he has sent nudes and has four nipples. The lie is definitely the conversational German.”

Harry winked at Louis so subtly that he almost missed it. “He’s right. I can’t speak a word of German.”

Louis’ celebration for himself being right was interrupted by Teddy saying, “Tommo, how did you know?”

Until then, Louis hadn’t realized the repercussions of sharing his knowledge. But now it was all out there.

“He um, he—“ Louis had no words for the first time in his life. He was always the first one to dish out a remark or use his wit to save his arse, but in that moment he was speechless. He couldn’t think up any excuses when his mind was taken up with images of Harry’s bare torso and all those pictures of his cock that he sent Louis. How could he find something to say when he was swimming in memories of teasing all four of Harry’s sensitive nipples with his mouth, biting down on them—even the small ones—and hearing Harry’s moans in response. Or thinking about the time when Louis couldn’t hang out with Harry because his aunt Betsy was out so he had to watch his sisters; so Harry sent him a myriad of dick pics because he loved to torture Louis.

Luckily, Harry saved him by saying “He saw me shirtless in the locker room yesterday and asked about the two extra nipples. And we had a conversation about nude pictures earlier today. I used to send them all the time when I was younger.”

The team seemed to believe Harry and they moved on to Joey next to him. Louis decided he didn’t like Joey so he ignored whatever nonsense he was saying.

_Well, at least Harry was honest about not telling the team. He really is a good lad, despite torturing me with his winks and prolonged physical contact and all that. I’ll have to thank him for backing me up there--Not with a blowjob though. No blowjobs whatsoever. Get your mind out of the gutter, Tomlinson._

When it was Louis’ turn, he was determined to make himself seem not gay to make up for his error before. “I once got a girl grounded when her dad walked in on me and her.” Louis saw Harry’s face drop, which made Louis feel like shit. He didn’t want to make Harry sad after he had just stuck up for him. _That’s not what mates do. I shouldn’t be a dickhead to him._ Louis tried to lift Harry’s spirits by adding, “I once got a blowjob behind a church. On a Sunday.” _I’ll just leave out the fact that I also gave one in that exact location…_ Harry was still looking at the floor, but Louis could tell he was smiling now. “And, I don’t know, I’m the best chef to ever grace the Earth.” _If that isn’t the most obvious lie in the world, I don’t know what is._

“Hmm, Tommo, that’s a tough one.” Said Liam, jokingly. “But based on the fact that I only narrowly survived the one time you cooked for me, I’m gonna have to go with the last one being the lie.”

“Correct you are, mate. Thought I had ya stumped, but I guess you know me too well.”  

After the game ended, Louis walked over to Harry, who was still talkingto that Joey kid. And they seemed to be getting on. _Unacceptable._

“Hey Harry, can I talk to you for a moment?” Louis gladly interrupted Harry’s conversation with Joey.

“Yeah of course.” Harry turned to Joey, “Do you mind?” Joey shook his head and told the two of them to ‘go ahead.’

The flat was very crowded with the whole team being there, so Louis and Harry found their way into Tim’s bedroom. As Louis was shutting the door behind him, he said, “I just wanted to say thank you for saving my arse earlier. I really appreciate you coming through with your promise to keep my secret.”

Harry gave an awkward smile. It obviously wasn’t genuine which oddly made Louis sad. He didn’t want Harry to have to fake smiles. “It’s no problem at all.” Harry waited a beat before saying, “Did you not think I would keep my promise?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that—“ Louis really didn’t want to say what he knew he was about to say. “I know that you like saw…You saw that I was hard yesterday” It was almost a whisper, but Harry heard it. “And you’ve been very flirty with me all day. So I didn’t know what you wanted from me or if our agreement still held up. Because like, I’m still not gay. The stiffy was just because I’m going through a dry spell and I guess I was just thinking about my experimentation with you but I am in fact straight.” Louis’ rambling made no sense to him. He just hoped he got his point across to Harry.

Harry didn’t seem to be convinced by Louis’ speech at all. Regardless, he responded, “Like I said yesterday, if you say you’re not gay then you must not be gay. I will admit that I got my hopes up when I saw that you were hard and when you mentioned our church adventure. But if all that was because of other factors and not because you want to fuck me, then I have no choice but to respect that. I still won’t tell anybody about your experimentation.” Harry clearly disliked saying the word with the way he couldn’t help but spit it out. “I’ll stop flirting with you if that’s what you want. I’m just a flirty person. I’m flirty with all my friends really. Granted, I was extra flirty with you today but I can tone it down.” He was trying to hide his disappointment but Louis could sense something was off.

“I’m sorry. That came out really badly. Look, I think you’re really cool I do want to be mates with you. I’m just not sure how to deal with this whole situation. So, if I’m a dick sometimes, please forgive me. I don’t mean for the things I say to come out that way.”

“Do I have the right to tell you when you’re being a dick?” Harry asked, with a dimpled smile playing upon his lips.

“I hope that you will.” Louis winked at Harry to show that there were no hard feelings. Not because deep down he wanted Harry to keep flirting with him. Defiintely not that.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's the first chapter. I hope you liked it. I will post the second chapter sometime soon idk exactly but soon. Next chapter will be longer. Thanks for reading.


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